Shafaq News- Tehran

Iranian Police arrested two people in the capital, Tehran, on charges of collecting intelligence on military and sensitive sites and passing it to “hostile entities” under the cover of journalistic work, the Tehran Greater Police Information Center announced on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Center described the operation as a complex intelligence operation that led to the arrests in western and northern parts of the city, adding that the suspects “used media work as a cover to collect and transmit classified and confidential information related to vital and sensitive military and security centers to networks hostile to the Iranian regime.”

The detainees maintained organized and close ties with a network operating inside and outside Iran, the statement added, without disclosing their identities, the foreign entities allegedly linked to them, or the media outlets involved. 

Preliminary investigations showed the suspects used a Starlink satellite internet system to establish an encrypted communication channel with “an operations room managed from outside the country,” the statement noted, adding that authorities confiscated the Starlink receiver during the raid.

On March 14,Iran arrested 27 people accused of security-related activities across the country. According to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), 13 individuals were detained with three Starlink satellite terminals in their possession.